BATON ROUGE – Okay, I admit it. I had to go back and check a few facts along the way to writing something about the 1991 Southeastern Conference championship team from LSU.
I was here then. It was my third year working in the athletic department. I was in my 30s. You can do the math but some of the brain cells are probably not working as well after 29 years at this place. Some? Perhaps several?
I do remember that there was a big seven foot sophomore who probably had his best season of his three college years at LSU. It would be a season when Shaquille O’Neal would earn not only SEC POY but national POY and a world amateur athlete of the year award. He would be the first to lead the SEC in points, rebounds, field goal percentage and blocks in the same season. He would lead the nation in rebounds, but more of those numbers later.
The Tigers that year were 20-10 and had a 13-5 record to win the SEC. Back in those 18 game seasons before the league added Arkansas and South Carolina the next year and began divisional play, the magic number seemed to be 13 win the league. It would the fourth and final championship for Coach Dale Brown and his staff that included assistant coach Johnny Jones.
Now every team has stories and this championship team had some stories that made it an SEC Champion
Let’s start with Maurice Williamson. His role was minor as he was redshirted that year after being an integral part of the 1990 NCAA team. So that was a potential blow that the team had to overcome. Williamson would return for a good 1991-92 season.
Part of that overcoming was a bit of a makeover at the top. Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf) had been a scoring point guard for two seasons, including O’Neal’s first season. So the scoring was gone and a passer was needed. That came in the presence of JC transfer from Baton Rouge, T. J. Pugh. Pugh’s job – his main job – was to get the ball to O’Neal. Pugh, who when he did shoot posted over 50 percent in the league, dished out 196 assists, the second most in LSU history.
Then there was Vernel Singleton, who had to play center at 6-6 on the 1988-89 team that lost several players for a year by what was then called Prop 48. He was a fan and media favorite by his junior season and whether it was this year or next year would soon make the cartoon bandage a part of his game wardrobe after fans began to send Snoopy and Ninja Turtle ones to cover a cut on his shoulder.
Now how many times, I must ask, would someone set the opponent scoring record and then eventually transfer to play for the other school. That’s the story of Madrid, Spain native Mike Hansen. He came to Baton Rouge as part of a Tennessee-Martin team and roasted LSU in December 1989 to the tune of 40 points. At that time it was the most points an opponent had posted on the Tigers. LSU won that game, 128-89.
At some point, I looked up one day at practice the next year and there was Mike Hansen in LSU practice gear. That’s right, he transferred to LSU. He obviously knew the Pete Maravich Center was a good spot for his long-range shooting. He would average in double figures in 1991 along with O’Neal and Singleton and he would make 58 three-pointers.
By the way, those Shaq numbers. O’Neal would average 27.6 points, 14.7 rebounds with 140 rebounds. He would make 62.8 percent of 497 field goal attempts. He did make 63.8 percent of his free throw attempts which wasn’t too bad.
Shawn Griggs became known as one of the defensive stars on this 1991 team. If you got close enough for O’Neal to block it that was one thing. But Griggs didn’t let you get close enough too often. He led the league in steals with an average of 2.8 per game. He tied the league single game steal mark of eight twice and then for good measure stole 10 balls against Tennessee.
I watched Wayde Sims throw in a long-distance rainbow three from the corner the other night at Kentucky and I just remembered his dad, Wayne, and his rainbow jumpers that barely touched net. It was Wayne’s final year and he would finish his career at that time as the No. 19 scorer and No. 19 rebounder in school history.
LSU would beat two Top 10 teams during the year – Arizona and Kentucky. The Arizona game was broadcast by Dick Vitale and his play-by-play announcer, Keith Jackson, could barely get a word in.
These guys represent just a few of the stories from that season. There were more players who all contributed in their own way. This was a team effort that won the championship and while individuals did a lot of honorable work, it was the collective effort that brought the Tigers a championship, something Coach Jones talked about Thursday in his media session.
“I thought that was a team that symbolized one guy who was an unbelievable superstar as we know him today in Shaquille O’Neal,” said Coach Jones. “He was surrounded by a great group of players who did a tremendous job of playing their special roles, and that’s from Wayne Sims, to Vernel Singleton, to T.J. Pugh, to Mike Hanson, to Geert Hammink, and the list goes on of a number of guys who I thought came in and did a great job in terms of what we consider playing in a team environment and family atmosphere.
“They were very close when you talk about that family atmosphere. One of the things that Coach (Dale Brown) used to preach all the time was ‘the best potential of me is we.’ I thought that’s what that group was all about and I thought that was one of the things that allowed them to be close and have the effectiveness that they had. The leadership they had on the team allowed them to get to the championship.”
LSU won seven-of-eight games left and clinched their share of the title in the next-to-last game at Florida.
It was an exciting time and many of the players, including O’Neal will be on hand this weekend for the Arkansas game Saturday night. They will get together for a private reception on Friday night and the Tipoff Club will welcome them to their pre-game event. We will meet them and salute them at halftime.
It is so hard to believe how long ago this really was. Championship memories may get a little tarnished, but weekends like this give us a chance to shine them up again and remember all the great moments that led to that championship. Let’s welcome them warmly come Saturday night!
1990-91 LSU Basketball Team Roster
SEC CHAMPIONS 20-10, 13-5
11 Mike Hansen — So., G, Madrid, Spain
12 John Picou — Fr., G, Mobile, Alabama
20 T. J. Pugh — Jr, G, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
21 Lenear Burns — Fr., F, Angie, Louisiana
22 Shawn Griggs — So, F., Ferriday, Louisiana
24 Vernel Singleton — Jr., F, Natchez, Mississippi
25 Danny Moscovitz — Fr. G, Ramatgan, Israel
32 Harold Boudreaux — Jr., F, Arnaudville, Louisiana
33 Shaquille O’Neal — So., C, San Antonio, Texas
41 Richard Krajewski — Sr., C, Grafton, North Dakota
43 Geert Hammink — So., C, Didam, Netherlands
44 Wayne Sims — Sr. F, DeRidder, Louisiana
NOTE — Maurice Williamson was a member of the LSU team but redshirted that season.
HEAD COACH — Dale Brown (19th year at LSU)
ASSISTANT COACH — Craig Carse (4th year at LSU)
ASSISTANT COACH — Johnny Jones (3rd year LSU)
ADM. ASSISTANT — Jim Childers (3rd year LSU)
TRAINER — Dr. Martin J. Broussard
Student Trainer — Steve Saccaro
Student Trainer — Tim Ezell
Student Manager — Tom Cherry
Student Manager — Greg Polk